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£658 for a computer desk.
£4360 to set up his 10 page website – surely not.
£123 for a trouser press.
£950 for a sofa bed.

As well as everything from cushions to bath screens he also claimed £2 for a knife.

His office expenses are equally bizarre with things as petty as 32p for a pair of scissors and 22p for drawing pins.

Almost every month he was putting down £400 for food (one month he tried for £500 and was knocked back), £250 for petty cash. How can you claim 32p for items in your office then £250 for petty cash, what the hell was the petty cash for?

Most amusing though was regularly paying a grand for leaflets then companies 4 grand to deliver them. Kind of shows the state of the Labour party membership in the city if they have to pay for leaflets to be delivered!

So given that the expenses cover council tax, rent/mortgage, food, household goods, phone bills etc.
The question remains: what is his salary for?

Mind you that is after the question what are the expenses for?. Well they are supposed to be essentials needed to be an MP. I don’t think cushions are essential. I don’t think a computer desk needs to cost over £600 and I am baffled as to why an MP from Dundee can claim for an overnight stay in a hotel in South Wales. Was that when he was visiting parliament or his constituency?

Jim Devine

Jim Devine is even more amusing a list of different dodgy expenses and every one of them was someone else cocking up in a completely different way. Occam’s Razor slices, it dices, it leaves it most likely he’s fibbing.

[…] c. But hang on a mo’, “what are expenses meant to encompass?”. Well they are supposed to be essentials needed to be an MP. I don’t think cushions are essential. I don’t think a computer desk needs to cost over £600 and I am baffled as to why an MP from Dundee can claim for an overnight stay in a hotel in South Wales. Was that when he was visiting parliament or his constituency? http://agraham.org/blog/2009/06/20/jim-mcgovern-snout-in-the-trough/ […]